A number of financial services firms in Orange County are setting themselves up as conduits for deals in India, drawn by the country’s growing upper and middle classes, a raft of highly educated workers, and a number of industries that offer potential for cross-border links.
Some partners of Newport Beach-based CB Capital Partners Inc. are planning a trip to several cities in India next month to build on their relationships there and to work on prospective deals, said Henry To, chief investment officer at the investment banking firm.
“The timing is very good right now,” he said. “The demographics in India are bright. And the Indian community in the U.S.—these people are going back and starting businesses. India’s economy is developing. There are a lot of things going on that are conducive to growth.”
CB Capital provides various advisory services, including for mergers and acquisition, recapitalization and capital raises. CB Capital’s India-focused practice is headed by Vice President Meghana Gaikwad, who joined the firm about a year ago. She got her bachelor’s degree in electronic and telecommunication engineering from Pune Institute of Computer Technology, a master’s in electrical engineering from California State Polytechnic University-Pomona, and an MBA from the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California-Irvine.
She said CB Capital is focusing on a number of growth-oriented industries in India, including the digital media and animation sectors, e-commerce, and healthcare.
CB Capital, for instance, is working with DQ Entertainment PLC, an animation content production company in Hyderabad, a tech center in India.
The publicly traded company had about $39 million in revenue in its year ended March 31.
CB Capital’s healthcare-related work in India involves manufacturing companies looking to strike deals, said Managing Partner Christopher Baclawski.
Crossovers
Newport Beach-based Pelican Point Capital Partners LLC also is banking on India to provide solid ground for business.
The merchant bank is headed by co-chief executives Ike Suri and Shahid Quraishi, who cofounded the firm in 2013.
It provides mezzanine financing, real estate investment services, capital raising, and corporate advisory services, among other things. It has about 20 employees total in Newport Beach and New York, as well as advisers and other relationships in Silicon Valley and internationally, including offices in London, Shanghai, Athens and India.
Managing Director Adam Chaudhary said Pelican Point has ownership stakes in a couple of software companies in the U.S. that are “pitching” to conglomerates and technology firms in India. “Tech companies … are looking to India to provide not only back-office services to the U.S., but there are also customers there,” he said. “There’s enough money in India that’s coming to the U.S.,” Suri said. “We’ve found a lot of crossovers in a few sectors where we’re busy.”
Suri was born in New Delhi, attended college in India, and came to the U.S. in the late 1980s to study. He earned an MBA from Rutgers University and worked in the technology sector. He spent the past 15 years or so at Options Group International LLC, a New York-based consulting firm he cofounded in the 1990s and has served as co-president and chief financial officer.
Pelican Point boosted its focus in India this year by tapping Suri’s brother Mikki as an adviser to be based there. Mikki has about 30 years of experience in the real estate industry in India.
“His network of relationships is humongous,” said Ike Suri, adding that real estate is an attractive draw for “high-net-worth Indian diaspora communities” that would like to make investments back home.
“There’s wealth not just in India,” Suri said. “These high-net-worth Indians are living in Hong Kong, Singapore and so on. The Indian community in the U.S. is also quite wealthy. And they’re investing. Similar to the U.S., there are new cities [being built], outside of Bombay, Bangalore. Those are attracting the Indian diaspora that’s got money and want to have property there.”
Pelican Point also sees a “crossover between Hollywood and Bollywood,” as “storylines that are proven great in India [are] coming to the U.S. and being picked up by big studios through us.”
Political Shift
CB Capital’s To said there’s increasing optimism about India’s economy in general, thanks to new Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his reform-oriented Bharatiya Janata Party.
“Indians in general want reform,” he said. “Part of that is inviting foreign capital to come in and invest. That has really jumped significantly in the last few months. There’s been at least $290 billion of foreign investment in India in the public markets.”
Attorney Shivbir Grewal said he decided to make “good use of that” and launched a venture to facilitate investments and cross-border partnerships among businesses.
Grewal is a former shareholder of Newport Beach-based law firm Stradling Yocca Carlson & Rauth P.C., where he focused on corporate law representing technology and life science businesses.
He recently left the firm and started Auctus Global Capital Group, through which he and others will have a “variety of verticals,” including arms focused on mergers and acquisitions and on joint ventures between companies in the U.S. and Asia, particularly in India, China and Japan.
Grewal practiced law in India before he moved to the U.S. in 1990.
“I go back often, and I’ve been keeping my network alive, expanding it,” he said. “Now with the new government in place, people are looking at global expansion and acquisitions opportunities.
“We’ve already started looking at a couple of projects, which are U.S.-based companies talking to joint venture partners in India. One of them is a clean-tech company, and the other is in the industrial [sector]. They’re both looking to invest in India and to find joint venture partners.”
Grewal also is working with CB Capital in an advisory capacity.
CB Capital’s To said the recent and ongoing changes in India could provide room for continued long-term growth.
“This is definitely at the forefront of things to come,” he said. “India is just starting out right now; they’re like China 10 years ago. India is looking at a 20-year, long-term growth trend.”
